I first got online back in 1993, before the web. I got in the technology business in 1996, as it was just starting to become something noteworthy. I really launched my career in 2000, in an ecommerce solution provider. Over the years, the web has undergone amazing change — which is why it is still my native business environment of choice.

I still vividly remember client phone calls in which executives on the other end of the phone could barely contain their disdain, because — in their view — the web was a fad that would eventually fade away, and there was no reason for them to invest anything in it at all. Obviously, even the most die-hard ludites have eventually capitulated to the realities of an online world and succumbed to the importance of the web for the survival and growth of their business.

One of the most critical lessons we have learned over the years, though, is how to get better about separating out the technical parts of a solution, so that it no longer takes hand-coding HTML in order to update content. The advent of the straight-forward, open source CMS is one of the greatest things that could have ever happened to small business.

Of course, with power comes the power to make mistakes — and in a world where your customer’s first impression of you is often your website, that means that developing an appropriate and aesthetically pleasing website is vital to your online success, even if your core business is not web-based.

Indigo Heron is excited to announce the launch of a new set of products and services tailored to meet this need. In addition to our consulting services, designed to provide this capability for our clients, we are now also developing the training needed to help clients understand the basics, and learn to self-serve as much as they would like to tackle on their own. Training will be available in class settings, on-site private sessions for your team, or online.

Training services will focus on:

Getting a straight-forward CMS implemented

Configuring the most relevant widgets and add-ons appropriate for your site

Organizing your content to support good Information Architecture practices

Understanding SEO’s most vital Do’s and Don’t’s

Writing strong SEO-friendly site copy

The basics of online marketing and advertising

Social media tools, how to use them and when

eCommerce best practices, technologies and solutions

Website hosting needs, considerations and options

As always, Indigo Heron is available to provide any of these services (and more) to companies in need, but we also realize that for the best possible on-going care and management of your website, a basic understanding of how things work and why cannot be skipped or assumed.

If you are interested in joining an upcoming training session, or in having us come on-site to your business to provide training for you, your team, or your group, please contact us.

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Recommendations

"The very first time we worked with Indigo Heron, they did an amazing job expertly hitting the mark with our content while operating under an impossibly tight deadline. What was most astonishing was how quickly they were able to assimilate and synthesize all these inputs and generate a written message that perfectly balanced our business objectives with the needs of our target audience. They were able to articulate a message that is exactly what we wanted to communicate . . . only better than we could have ever done ourselves!" - John Fandel, Principal, DEPlabs